Just received this in the mail Saturday morbing from the granddaughter of the Vet! Thanks goes out to a coworker who thought of me when he saw this. The vets granddaughter is his mother in-law, and she was going to put it into auction the day after my co-worker contacted me (local, not eBay). Thankfully she didn't, as the other items included in the auction went for pennies on the dollar.

Group is named to Glenn L Niccum. It consists of his dog tags, named gas mask and M1917 helmet.

Glenn served in a Machine Gun Company, in the 339th Infantry Regiment. Thanks to another collector for passing this info onto me.

Helmet, which is British made, has a white camo application, and RUSSIA stenciled across the top.

Gas Mask and Bag is complete, however the mask is a bit stiff. Written on the interior flap is GL Niccum, MG Co.

Lastly, one of his dog tags; his granddaughter kept the other.

There is a photo of him in uniform, however the granddaughter has to locate it (they are in the process of a move and it is packed away).

In any case, I'm proud to be the caretaker of this Polar Bear's grouping, and I'm looking forward to the additional research on the vet!

A good memoir is "A Michigan Polar Bear Confronts the Bolsheviks" by Godfrey Anderson. He was a medic that saw action in North Russia and had saved many memoirs. A Professor put them all together in the historic context a few years ago and released the book. Its quite an easy read and not expensive. "Quartered in Hell" by Hayes Otoupalik is also a well known reference but is out of print. Sometimes you can find it on Amazon and e-Bay for a reasonable price. The best is the Stan Bozich work, but it is way out of print and it doesn't look like they are going to do any more... Its fairly expensive when you do find it. Its called "Detroits Own Polar Bears" He founded the Michigan's Own Museum in Frankenmuth MI, and has the largest collection of Polar Bear material in a museum. Its worth a visit if you ever get to Michigan. Hope this helps, Scott.

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Always looking for 32nd Division items and 13th Armored Division items. Please keep me in mind if you have any.

Also, to my surprise, I was able to speak with Niccum's son. He was able to fill me in on some details of Niccum's service, as well as send me scans of Niccum in uniform and photos he took while in Russia.

Service info:

-Niccum was initially sent to Camp Custer in Battle Creek, MI for training, prior to his overseas deployment-After training, he was sent to England where he was issued a Lee Enfield. -From there, he was transferred to Archanelsk. Apparently upon arrival, he was issued a Mosin-Nagant. I assume the Enfield was for additional training, and the Nagant was his service rifle. The son couldn't confirm. -According to the son, Niccum's final rank was Sgt. Sometime while in North Russia, he sustained a knee injury as a result of a building explosion from an aircraft bombing, however continued his service.

He remained in Russia until May of 1920, and spent approximately 2 years overseas.